


Desperate Times

by ComeBackWhen



Series: Rescue [3]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Cloud and Sephiroth friendship, Eventual ASGZC, M/M, Sephiroth and Genesis cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:46:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComeBackWhen/pseuds/ComeBackWhen
Summary: As Genesis and Angeal continue to worsen, Sephiroth takes matters into his own hands. What he finds is not what he expected.





	Desperate Times

Desperation drove Sephiroth to lengths he would not usually consider. It was easier than he had imagined it would be to get into the Science Department’s computer systems. No one questioned him when he walked into Hojo’s office and closed the door behind him and some covert studying of Hojo’s hands during his last few visits to the lab had provided him with Hojo’s login credentials. Once he started looking through the files, he decided that the safeguards were so lax because the only people likely to understand the files would be Hojo and Hollander themselves. The notes were disjointed and incomplete in a lot of places, offering very little useable information.  
  
After several hours of unsatisfying research, Sephiroth would have closed out of the files entirely if not for finding several documents in Hollander’s folders with his own name on them.  
  
While he had often wondered about his own background, he had assumed it was unremarkable. Most likely, he had been an orphan that had been adopted as a ward of the company. He was fairly certain a few of the Turks had been recruited that way. Hojo had once told him that his mother, Jenova, was dead. He had been so disappointed by the answer, he had never bothered to ask about his father. It had always seemed obvious to him.  
  
Of course, Hollander had very little to say, but the words had provided a very different story. Sephiroth’s birth had been a footnote in a file documenting his thoughts on Angeal’s and Genesis’s developmental progress:  
  
 _Hojo has written of his own project. The boy was born healthy. Hojo says the child has silver hair and green eyes with an oddly elongated pupil. Dr. Crescent has named him Sephiroth. Hojo is already reporting that the child is in the top percentile in growth and development, but what could that possibly mean in an infant? I’m not surprised he’s exaggerating the child in any way he could… he would accept nothing less than a prodigy from anything that shared his genes.  
  
_ _I’ll leave him to count the above-average number of spit bubbles the boy blows in a day and continue to work with Angeal and Genesis. They are really the most remarkable children. Soon, Gast will have to approve my work as the basis for Shinra’s new Soldier program._  
  
“Sephiroth.”  
  
Sephiroth jerked his gaze up from the screen at the sound of Hojo’s voice. He had been so absorbed that he had not even heard the other man coming.  
  
“What are you doing in here?” Hojo arched an eyebrow and Sephiroth distantly wondered how similar his own face looked with the same expression, “It’s usually like pulling teeth to get you to willingly come to my office.”  
  
“I…”  
  
Hojo frowned, “You what?”  
  
The words tumbled out of Sephiroth’s mouth before he could stop them, “You’re my father.”  
  
Sephiroth could see Hojo’s eyes flick to the computer briefly and then back to Sephiroth, “I am.”  
  
“You never told me.”  
  
“You always asked about your mother, but never said anything about your father.” Hojo stepped into the office, closing the door behind him, “I assumed you were aware.”  
  
He shooed Sephiroth out of his chair, sitting and pulling paperwork out of the folder he had been carrying. He glanced over at the computer, making a noise in the back of his throat before closing out of the files Sephiroth had been reading, “Hollander was always a short-sighted idiot. Anyone could see you were the superior product of the original Soldier experiments.”  
  
It was the way that Hojo had always spoken about him- an excellent specimen, his prized project. He had learned to ignore it, but the callous words snapped control that was frayed by Angeal and Genesis’s illness, “Did you ever care for me? At all?”  
  
Hojo was quiet a moment, scribbling notes in the margin of the report in front of him. For a moment, Sephiroth wondered if he was going to acknowledge the question at all. Finally, Hojo said, “Everything I’ve ever done has been for your benefit. When I say I want to see you succeed, it is not just for myself or my research.”  
  
The words were cool, but the tone of Hojo’s voice was unlike Sephiroth had ever heard. He was not outright answering Sephiroth’s question, but the answer seemed obvious enough to him now.  
  
“Sit.” Hojo said, waving a hand distractedly at a nearby chair.  
  
Sephiroth blinked in surprise, “What?”  
  
“You want to save Hollander’s failures, don’t you?” Hojo asked, looking up at Sephiroth over the tops of his glasses, “Sit.”  
  
For once, Sephiroth did as commanded without complaint, removing his jacket and setting it out of Hojo’s way, “You can help them?”  
  
“If I can’t, no one can.” Hojo said, words blunt but not unkind, as he lined up instruments on a tray and brought them back to the desk, “I have several theories…and if either of them can make it to the lab tomorrow, I will test those theories and attempt to cure the degradation of their cells.”  
  
“Genesis… Zack will help me. We’ll get him here.” Sephiroth said, chest feeling oddly tight as he extended his arm to Hojo.  
  
Hojo worked in silence a moment, drawing blood and taking a skin sample, “You could do better than those two. You deserve better.”  
  
The smile that came to Sephiroth’s lips was wry, “You always used to say that Angeal and Genesis were the closest anyone in Shinra has ever come to matching your success.... If not them, who?”  
  
Hojo made a noise in his throat. Sephiroth had no idea if it was amusement, disagreement or disappointment. With a sigh, Hojo flapped a hand at him, “That’s all I’ll need for now. Go away and let me work. Bring Genesis here tomorrow morning.”  
  
Sephiroth stood and pulled his jacket back on. He paused on the way out of the door, “Thank you.”  
  
“I haven’t done anything yet.” Hojo replied, “You can thank me if they live.”  
  
If asked later, Sephiroth doubted he could describe the walk back to his apartment from the labs. He had moved through the building on auto-pilot, lost in his thoughts. For once, he was glad of his reputation. It allowed him to get back home without being disturbed. If anyone had spoken to him he might not have been able to control his words.  
  
Once he had the door securely closed and locked behind him, he let his expression crack at last. He leaned back against the door and rubbed his hands over his face. Angeal and Genesis, Hojo’s change of heart, the revelation of the identity of his father- It was too much to handle on his own at once.  
  
“Sephiroth?”  
  
Sephiroth jerked, turning to look at the doorway to his bedroom. Cloud stood clutching a pillow to his chest guiltily, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you… Genesis wanted his pillow from your room. He said you wouldn’t mind if I came to get it.”  
  
“Not at all.” Sephiroth replied smoothly, straightening and trying to reign in his emotions, “Thank you for looking after him while I was otherwise engaged.”  
  
“I don’t mind.” Cloud assured him, “I’m glad to help out. Plus, Genesis says he’s enjoyed having a new audience to listen to all his old stories.”  
  
Sephiroth nodded, the words barely registering. He startled again when Cloud touched his arm. Cloud flinched but did not pull away, “When was the last time you ate something or… uh… slept?”  
  
“What?”  
  
Cloud’s expression was stern and apologetic at once, “You look awful.”  
  
The laughter that bubbled up out of his throat was involuntary and tinged with desperation. Cloud set aside Genesis’s pillow and tugged Sephiroth toward the kitchen, “Come on, I’m sure you have something edible in here.”  
  
Sephiroth tried to pull away, “Genesis-”  
  
“Sent me on a silly errand so he could have a few minutes to himself.” Cloud said with a wry grin, “Probably because he hoped I would find you here and spread my worrying around. Obviously, you need someone to look after you, too.”  
  
Sephiroth tried to protest, but Cloud ignored him completely. By the time Cloud set a plate of food in front of him, Sephiroth was glad to be able to stop thinking for a while. There were very few people he trusted, but Cloud had proven over and over that he was worthy of that trust. The strain of everything had taken a toll on him. He had not realized just how tired he was until Cloud took some of the weight off of his shoulders. He ate the food and let Cloud bully him into changing into something more comfortable before leading him back to Genesis’s room.  
  
“I found you a Sephiroth shaped pillow.” Cloud joked weakly, nudging Sephiroth into the room.  
  
Genesis took one look at Sephiroth and lifted the edge of his blanket, “Come here dear heart.”  
  
“I don’t want to-”  
  
“Yes, well, I do want to, so get over here.” Genesis shook the blanket impatiently, “I’m sick, not dead.”  
  
That made Sephiroth move further into the room, “You’re not- Hojo. I talked to him and convinced him to try and create a cure. We’re going to go to the lab tomorrow. I need to tell Zack-”  
  
“I’ll tell him.” Cloud said, waving him back toward Genesis, “I’ll stop by Angeal’s place and tell Zack to meet you here in the morning. You get some sleep.”  
  
Cloud closed the door before either of them could say anything else. Genesis huffed out a little laugh, “He puts Angeal’s mothering to shame… but it looks like you needed it.”  
  
“I’m fine.” Sephiroth insisted.  
  
Genesis made a noise of disagreement in his throat, “Get over here.”  
  
Sephiroth finally gave in, climbing into bed and letting Genesis pull him down into warm arms, “You may be able to fool him, but I know what it looks like when you’re not taking care of yourself.”  
  
“Actually, he called me on it as soon as he saw me.” Sephiroth laughed a little, “He fed me and all but ordered me to bed.”  
  
“Mmm… I like him more and more.” Genesis smiled against the top of Sephiroth’s head, “You went to Hojo?”  
  
“I was just looking for answers. Hojo found me and I convinced him to try and help.” Sephiroth could feel some of the stress melt out of him as Genesis’s hand played with his hair, “I had to do something.”  
  
He could feel Genesis nod, “I just hope we can trust him.”  
  
Sephiroth tensed again, but Genesis shushed him, “We don’t have to talk about it now. If you think he can help, I’ll cooperate. We’re running out of options, anyway.”  
  
Carefully, Sephiroth pushed himself up, “Genesis-”  
  
Genesis tugged him back down, “Enough. Sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”  
  
He could tell that Genesis was trying to stubbornly try to outlast him, but he tired so quickly these days. Slowly, the hand in his hair stilled and the chest beneath his cheek rose and fell with slow even breathing. It was a long time before Sephiroth’s mind settled enough to join Genesis in sleep.


End file.
